Infra-red heterodyne laser radar for remote sensing of air pollutants by range-resolved differential absorption

An infra-red heterodyne laser radar scheme incorporating range-resolved differential absorption using elastically backscattered, pulsed signal from distributed particles in the atmosphere is proposed and analysed. The basic requirements of the system arrangement and operating parameters involved in this scheme are discussed in detail. This method is shown to offer a remote and spatially-resolved measurement of various molecuar pollutants dispersed in the air for ranges up to several km and detection sensitivities to less than 0.1 ppm with laser pulses of 100 W average power. This power is 10³ to 10⁶ times smaller than that required with the conventional direct detection technique in the infra-red. The measuring accuracy and its limiting processes inherent to the infra-red range-resolved differential absorption method are also analysed.